Hi,
We're visiting Vietnam as part of a 6 month RTW trip. For our Vietnam portion - I'd like to keep it unplanned and allow us to go with the flow, ie - if we want more time in Hanoi we can stay longer there and cut out Hoi An, or potentially we could go there...
Anyways - if we were to book airfare "at the last minute" meaning a day or two early for the route Hanoi-HCMC - would we pay extra? Is this to be advised, or should we plan further in advance.
Thanks!
auher
1
bpwarne
An L class ticket on Vietnam Airlines can be purchased anytime for full fare price and is changeable. An M (I think it's M) class ticket must be purchased at least 5 days in advance and is not changable. Cost for M class is 25% less than full fare price. Pacific Airlines is owned by Vietnam Airlines and tickets are generally a bit cheaper, but not much, ie, Saigon - Hanoi is about $5 cheaper. There have been deeper discount sales of Pacific tickets recently. My understanding is that it is being touted as a much needed discount airline, aimed more at the domestic Vietnamese traveler market. We flew Vietnam Airlines 3 times in the last month, Saigon - Hanoi, Danang - Nha Trang (really Cam Ranh Bay), and Dalat - Saigon. We purchased a day or two in advance with no trouble getting seats. We were impressed with the service from Vietnam Airlines. There were meals/snacks included but no movies or music on any of the planes we flew. Some of the airports themselves were very unimpressive. Danang, Cam Ranh Bay and Dalat all appeared to be in a very deteriorated state from which the Americans left them in the 70's. Whatever the government has been doing in the last 35 years to update the infrastructure is not noticable at these airports.
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